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IRISH BAILE CORCAIGH Pronounced “Bolly Cork,” Corktown’s newest Irish pub and restaurant is as authentic as the name. From the Clonakilty corned beef and cabbage to the traditional Irish breakfast complete with bangers plus black and white pudding (suet and oats), the menu can feed a wide range of appetites. Most dishes are your usual Irish fare, loaded with the typical Hibernian staple of potatoes and carrots, but there are some deviations from the norm, a la Paddy’s Pancakes, crépes filled with spinach and mushroom sauce and a Canadian whitefish dish with a distinctive Irish touch (plus, of course, potatoes). A bar stocked with a bevy of Irish whiskies and live entertainment two days a week make this place yet one more reason to hang out in Corktown. CLADDAGH IRISH PUB A proud endorser of the two-part Guinness pour (you’ll have to watch them do it to understand), Claddagh also tries to keep its menu as Celtic as possible, veering from the Irish or Irish-sounding only when absolutely necessary. Trout St. Claren’s, shepherd’s pie and bangers and mash (sausages and potatoes) are authentic classics that make you imagine you’re actually across the pond while the real public-house décor perpetuates the illusion. DICK O’DOW’S IRISH PUBLIC HOUSE O’Dow’s didn’t jump on the “authentic” Irish pub paddy wagon, they virtually invented it. It was the first hand-crafted Irish pub in the area, that area being America. The bar was built in Dublin, shipped over and reassembled here, heralding the start of an Irish pub invasion that continues to this day. The rest of the décor is Celtic on steroids—which steers the vibe. The booze is just as authentic, and the food is way better than you would typically find in a pub in Dublin, or many a restaurant in our fair country. In fact, before Dick O’Dow’s, we considered Irish places more for drinking than eating—all right, we still do. But you would go to O’Dow’s just to eat, even if they didn’t have Guinness on tap and a major share of Ireland’s better liquid exports. They do a great job on the expected Irish dishes and have introduced us to many lesser-known Irish specialties, like boxty, Irish potato pancakes, or the salmon swimming in whisky. GAELIC IRISH AMERICAN LEAGUE Come more for the beer and the genuine accents than the events; Detroit’s most authentic Irish pub is also a reminder of how stultifyingly dull old Irish people can be. Not that a Corktown Home and Garden Tour, a Connaught Provincial Dance or a James Joyce Celebration couldn’t be made tolerable with a dram or three of Bushmill’s for company. Seriously, a grand old watering hole with real live Irish music on weekends and harp lessons on Sundays for those practicing for the choir invisible. It is a member’s thing. JOHN COWLEY & SONS IRISH PUB You’ll smell the hardwoods that keep this kitchen cooking when you walk in. Chances are good your dinner won’t be boiled, but you may get stewed. It’s a double-decker pub with upscale Amer-Irish eats and a drinking man’s ambience. KENNEDY’S IRISH PUB You can get three squares at Kennedy’s—four if you count Guinness as a meal. Waterford is a city in Kilkenny, Ireland as well as in Oakland County, so you are essentially “Dublin” your faux-Irish experience in this Ulster-rific pub, known for its breakfast/lunch/dinner kitchen, dynamic waitstaff and general aura of longevity. OLD SHILLELAGH With a strong commitment to the organic and sustainable buzz, Old Shillelagh offers nineteen draft beers, including Guinness and Harp (which are Irish) and Killian’s (which is not). Music from the venerable Black Mist rocks the cash bar most weekend nights, and there’s a menu which may not be particularly Irish (pizza and burgers alongside a few Gaelic obligatories) but is not treated simply as a booze sponge. Try the remarkably succulent Irish stew, for example—it’s a paradigm of the breed. Scalloped tin ceilings and walls give a nice other-century feel to the interior, but on St. Paddy’s Day, the real action takes place on the exterior beneath a pair of rollicking circus tents. O’MALLEY’S O’Malley’s cutesies up the Irish angle with their O’Reuben sandwich, Irish chili and Shillelagh club (where corned beef replaces the turkey) but sure as the chef’s name is Mary Coburn, that’s close enough for us. O’Malley’s is near the Palace, so it’s a good pit stop before and after an event. If you’re famished, the half-pound retro burger is pretty prodigious stuff. O’MARA’S Expect Irish perfection from O’Mara’s kitchen. The Emerald Isle is well-repped and quite well done. The stew is as hearty as it gets and the house’s potatoes are truly unique. Here, the ubiquitous staple, shepherd’s pie, is actually a pie with a potato crust, covered with gravy and garnished with peas. Order a slice and you’ll be happy. O’TOOLE’S 205 W. 5th Street, Royal Oak When a friend said, “The food at O’Toole’s is really good,” we were skeptical. We thought the huge crowd was because the servers wore sexy schoolgirl uniforms and they had the big TVs. Imagine our surprise when we ate there and found out the food was good—REALLY good. It’s easy to publish an upscale menu, it’s quite another to deliver. Everything we’ve tried has exceeded expectations, especially the shepherd’s pie (which, in addition to being served inside a baked shell, is filled with lamb burger—which more is shepherdly authentic than just cow). There are other Irish specialties and a lot of really good takes on the traditional. One of the best burgers in Royal Oak—they must tip their butcher well. SEAN O’CALLAGHAN’S 449 Main St., Milford 9555 Village Place Blvd., Brighton
A traditional Irish pub and the most happening place in Plymouth, as well as the new Milford and Brighton locations. The menu is laden with Hibernian faves— exceptional shepherd’s pie, full-on corned beef dinners, the expected Irish stew and unexpected bangersand mash. A well-rounded menu, salted with Celtic touches and extensive enough that it won’t tire out regulars. Whisky and beer are as instrumental in the kitchen as they are behind the bar. The families start leaving when families typically leave, and the place really kicks into high gear; the bar is the hub of this pub, and with single malts and Guinness pour, the crowd gets louder and happier and digits get exchanged. SHAMROCK IRISH PUB As you might imagine, Shamrock’s is Irish more in name than concept; it’s mostly a crowded, Cheers-like neighborhood speakeasy dominated by locals, burgers, seasoned fries and chicken tenders, and a lot of hype and cut-out green things come March 17. A true Utica icon. SHANAHAN’S Out of the rubble of the earthquake that was Tremors sits an Irish pub that looks almost too authentic. It’s like going on a historic pub tour of the Emerald Isle or a strong drink pavilion at Epcot Center; you expect James Joyce to belly over and cadge a Bloomsday drink off you. The food is inspired-Irish, and pretty damn well-inspired if you must know. But the really smart thing about Shanahan’s is the one thing that should be mandatory in every Irish pub and bar—an attached Holiday Inn. So drink up. © 2008 Guide to Detroit, LLC |